Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
In order for a scheduling tool to be useful as a realistic model of railway operations it should have the following features:                The capability of representing a wide range of railway configurations including uni- and bi-directional track, junctions, branches, refuging or cross facilities etc.        The ability to handle same direction overtakes.        A check of the length of a train against the length of the crossing loop before allowing a cross to occur.        The ability to take into account the characteristics of the signalling and safeworking systems.        Accommodate all safety margins between the crossing and overtaking of trains to allow for signal changes.        Allow trains to follow one another onto single line segments as governed by the signalling system in place.        
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and system for calculating a plan for moving trains on a network to overcome or ameliorate at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art, or to provide a useful alternative.